Proposals for a Brent Cross Railway
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Campaign for Better Transport - London Group REDUCING CAR USE: PROPOSALS FOR A BRENT CROSS RAILWAY A massive expansion is planned for the Brent Cross area of north London, with high-density retail, housing and commercial developments that will create a new “Town Centre” on both sides of the North Circular Road. According to the Development Framework document, there will be more than 29,000 additional vehicle journeys at Brent Cross per day. That will have a serious impact on an area where congestion can already be severe. As we start to tackle global warming, urgent discussion is vital to substantially reduce car use in mas- sive developments like this. While addressing the need for much better public transport at Brent Cross, there is an opportunity for a rapid transit system to also serve large parts of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, and beyond. Therefore this document proposes a Brent Cross Railway, as an east-west rapid transit system from Brent Cross (Northern Line), via the ex- panded Brent Cross Shopping Centre and Town Centre, to Neasden (Jubilee Line) and Harlesden (Bakerloo Line and Euston-Watford Overground). Possible exten- sions southwards are to North Acton (Central Line), and/or Park Royal (Central and Piccadilly Lines), and/or Acton Main Line (Crossrail). A major project! It would rely on financial contributions from the twenty-year development of Brent Cross Town Centre, and provide local regeneration, connection between under- ground lines, and access to the proposed Brent Cross Thameslink station, and to trains to Heathrow. It would also contribute generally towards a shift towards pub- lic transport, since much of it parallels the North Circular Road. The future Brent Cross, looking west. Picture taken from the developers’ web site. (See www.brentcrosscricklewood.com) v1.2b. 1Q2008 2 Contents Introduction 3 Extracts from The London Plan 4 Picture from developers’ web site. The Brent Cross Site 5 Extracts from Development Framework 6-10 What is proposed 11 Possible route 12 Brent Cross (Northern Line) station 13 Brent Cross South station 14 Brent Cross Shopping Centre station 15 Brent Cross Thameslink station 16 Western Section 17 Stephen Joseph: Dudden Hill Freight Line map 18 Dudden Hill Freight Line description 19 DEVELOPMENT proposals, especially when they are on the scale Extracts from Cross-London R.U.S. 20 of the scheme for Brent Cross, need to Extracts from London Rail Freight Strategy 21 “address much more imaginatively how car use can be reduced and the alterna- Gladstone Park station 22 tives improved. Neasden station (for Jubilee Line) 23 The Brent Cross Railway is an exam- Taylors Lane station 24 ple of the sort of project that needs to Harlesden station (Bakerloo, Overground) 25 be considered as part of a wider sus- “ tainable transport strategy, that also includes minimising parking and al- Running Trains 26 lowing as many journeys as possible to Number of stations 27 be made on foot and by bicycle. Number of trains 28 Risks, costs, threats, politics 29 Park Royal options 30 North Acton station (for Central Line) 31 And so to Park Royal 32 Stephen Joseph is executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport. Summary 33-34 3 THE Brent Cross development meets the Mayor of Lon- don’s desire for new high-density “Town Centres” around London. This one is promoted by a consortium Introduction of Hammerson, Multiplex and Standard Life Invest- ments, working with Barnet council. The outline planning permission is for a 14 million square feet (1.3m sq m) development of a new town centre at Brent Cross, with 27,000 jobs, 7,500 homes, a greatly-expanded Brent Cross Shopping Centre, hotel, cinema, new Thameslink station, bus station, new roads and bridges. Extracts from the Mayor’s planning document The Lon- don Plan are given overleaf. The Mayor and Transport for London are very aware that proposals for major new Diagram taken developments must be matched by increased transport from Transport capacity, both at a corridor and a local level. for London’s “Transport 2025” Extracts from the Brent Cross Development Frame- document. work then follow, together with our response. We be- lieve the framework shows that car access will continue to dominate for decades to come, unless transport and land use policies are changed now. We then suggest one particular alternative. The amended “tube map” below shows Phase One of our proposed Brent Cross Railway (and stations on a pos- sible extension into the Park Royal estate). Note: Brent Cross, Neasden and Harlesden stations below do not currently have step-free access. 4 1) of (1 LONDON PLAN EXTRACTS ’’ ’’ THE Mayor is responsible for strategic planning in London. His duties include producing a Spatial De- velopment Strategy for London – called the London Plan – and keeping it under review. vi) Housing, transport, office stock, skills and the public realm have all experienced under-investment. The benefits of economic buoyancy have not been shared between all Lon- doners. vii) The result has been: increased difficulties in travelling around London, with heavy traffic and slow and unreliable journey times increasing pollution, damaged environments and chronic underinvestment. xiii) ... Growth can only be accommodated without encroach- ing on open spaces if development takes place more inten- Various extracts from planning documents sively, leading to higher densities and plot ratios on existing are in this report — they all have a blue brownfield sites. In short – London must become a more flash across the top corner, like above. compact city. xiv) The future scale and phasing of development should be integrated with the capacity of the public transport system and accessibility of different locations. xvi) Clear spatial priorities are needed. ... Suburban town centres will also accommodate considerable growth. Residential car parking standards 12) Public transport accessibility should be used to assist in determining the appropriate residential density and the appro- priate level of car parking provision, particularly for major developments. Policy 3C.2 Matching development to transport capacity The Mayor will and boroughs should consider proposals for development in terms of existing transport capacity, both at a corridor and local level. Where existing transport capacity is not suffi- cient to allow for travel generated by proposed developments, and no firm plans exist for a suffi- cient increase in capacity to cater for this, boroughs should ensure that development proposals are appropriately phased until it is known these requirements can be met. Developments with signifi- cant transport implications should include a Transport Assessment and Travel Plan as part of plan- ning applications. ’’ 5 The Brent Cross Railway The Brent Cross Site The following five pages are taken from the Brent Cross Development Framework. They indicate the extent of the development and its transport connec- tions. On the last page, we also give our response. That is followed by an overall plan from the developers, produced in Spring 2007, and our proposed route and first four stations of the Brent Cross Railway (BCR). All kinds of ultra-light-rail must be considered for the BCR. It is possible that Docklands Light Railway technology may provide the best solution — with tight curves and steep gradients possible, the proven intensive use of single track for parts of the route, and a high-quality and vandal-free environ- ment. We also believe (but cannot yet demonstrate) that likely usage levels of the line justify this high level of investment, since many public transport journeys become feasible for the first time. 6 5) of (1 DEVELOPMENT This map is FRAMEWORK taken from the “Development EXTRACTS Framework” document. [This page’s text is our wording.] The main east- west road is the A406 North Cir- cular. This is of motorway stan- dard (at one time it was to be called the “M15”). The north-south A5 Edgware Road, and the Midland/Thames- link railway are on the left. The A41 Hendon Way, and the Northern Line Edgware branch are on the right. The M1 starts from the big North Circular Road roundabout (there were origi- nally plans to continue further south). Barnet owns the freehold of Brent Cross Shopping Centre (light blue above). Apart from West Hendon (top left) Barnet is to the east of the A5, and Brent is to the west. The Highways Agency controls the M1, Transport for London the A406 and A41, and the boroughs the rest of the roads. 7 5) of (2 DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK EXTRACTS CRICKLEWOOD has for a number of years been recognised, both at strategic and local levels as requiring regeneration. The 1970s Brent Cross shopping centre is in need of recreating itself, providing a much wider range of uses, and being fully integrated with its sur- roundings. This Development Framework represents the fruitful co-operation of public and private sectors. The 20-year period it covers means that it must include flexibility, whilst ensuring it uses up-to-date best practice. It provides the necessary guidance for the private sec- tor to secure the financial investment that will deliver successful and Extracts from this and other documents sustainable development. have been edited for brevity, in a hopefully Ken Livingstone Mayor of London reasonable way. This full document is at www.barnet.gov.uk To bring [regeneration] about, the Council and the Greater London Authority adopted a unique partnership approach with the key stake- holders to devise this Development Framework. The heart of this urban area will be a new town centre, with major new shopping and leisure developments. Up to 10,000 new homes will provide high quality accommodation for the future population. A commercial district set within the public realm will provide places of employment. The area will be accessible, and will benefit from community initiatives, including new schools and primary health care facilities.